EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF FLOW OVER A CYLINDER AND WING WITH VORTEX GENERATORS USING PIV
Date
2024-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
I.O.E
Abstract
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a non intrusive flow measurement technique used for
qualitative and quantitative analysis of flow dynamics. In this study, PIV is employed to
investigate flow behaviour around a circular cylinder and a wing, with and without vortex
generators (VGs). The research pursues dual objectives: to characterize the PIV setup using
the Strouhal number (a dimensionless parameter) and to analyze flow characteristics,
particularly focusing on stall conditions. Systematically, a linear actuation mechanism is
developed to facilitate experimentation on both models. Image processing, conducted in
PIVLab alongside the development of necessary code written in MATLAB, are incorporated
for detailed analysis, with time-dependent signals transformed into the frequency domain
using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for comprehensive evaluation. The characterization of
existing PIV setup was done through three sets of experimental data using strouhal number
for analysis of flow around circular cylinder. The strouhal number obtained are 0.1897,
0.1952 and 0.1952 with 3.6777 %, 0.9137 % and 0.9137 % errors respectively. Velocity field
and vorticity contours were studied for the aerodynamic flow analysis of baseline wing and
wing with VG at the 15 degree angle of attack. The obtained Strouhal number for wing and
wing with VGs are 0.1381 and 0.1571 respectively. The comparison concludes that vortex
generators energize the boundary layer above the wing and delay the flow separation
Description
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a non intrusive flow measurement technique used for
qualitative and quantitative analysis of flow dynamics. In this study, PIV is employed to
investigate flow behaviour around a circular cylinder and a wing, with and without vortex
generators (VGs).
Keywords
Vortex generator, Image Processing, Circular Cylinder, Vortex Shedding